I just bought a Radio Shack HTX-212 2 meter radio off of e-bay. It did not come with a mic. My plan is to wire an HM-36 mic to an RJ45 connector for use on that rig. Anyone done this before or have any ideas?

I'm not familiar with that mic. The wires may not be the right size to fit an RJ connector, or the wire/insulation may not grip satisfactorily.

In any case, hand made connector typically are not strong nor flexibly rugged. After all they are intended to lay behind desks and in cableways with rare connect/disconnect cycles, and no tension.

I recommend cutting a factory made connector from a quality +stranded cable and splice it to the mic cable. Shrink tubing on the wires and two layers of single wall tubing or one of double wall (adhesive) tubing on the final splice would be wise.

Caution: If there is any chance the radio has a pin with voltage, typically eight or nine vdc, be absolutely certain of your pinouts, and continuity check everything! You only get one chance to short it out!

or better yet.. get a small box form Radio Shack. a socket to fit the mic, and wire in a short cable with RJ45 plug already installed, that way you dont destroy the original mic and you can reduce strain on the RJ45 by attaching the box some where close , as a strain relief.

or better yet.. get a small box form Radio Shack. a socket to fit the mic, and wire in a short cable with RJ45 plug already installed,

You can buy the "small box" and "socket" as a Surface Mount Phone Jack, Radio Shack Catalog # 279-010, plus an ordinary 8 wire Cat 3 or 5 cable.

The microphone plugs into the box, then you cross-connect the 8 pin cable per the correct pinout for the rig. I have my HTX212 in the car and "remoting" the mic jack this way worked out both in terms of adapting the mic, and moving the mic jack from the front of the rig to under the seat.

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